Puppets and a Poetry Peek

Friends

Puppets by Children and Photo by Amy LV

Students - I wrote today's puppet poem for a purpose.  (Now there's some alliteration...)  I was visiting a kindergarten class, and I wanted a puppet poem. So...I wrote one!  

Sometimes there are occasions or moments in life where we are looking for words and are might not be able to find the exact words we seek.  Then it's time to pull out our pencils and write something new.

And now for a Poetry Peek!

Yesterday I was fortunate to visit Nancy Johnstone's and Marilyn Delucia's kindergarten classes as part of the extended day program with Mercier Literacy for Children at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School #9, the school where I student taught in 1992.  We had a few adults working together with children in poetry centers, and I am still smiling to think about it.

In Center One, children made the paper bag puppets you see above and recited the silly poem.

In Center Two, children read poetry books together from a suitcase full of books.

In Center Three, children made up poems and shared them orally in the voices of fuzzy puppets.  

And in Center Four, children wrote poems together with teacher Nancy Johnstone. Today they will be reading these group  poems (I typed them) and painting their own individual color poem books.

Enjoy reading these delightful images and playful color poems illustrated in watercolors.

Thank you very much to Nancy for inviting me to join her for an afternoon of poetry and time with these beautiful children.  It was a delight!

There is still a giveaway going on at last Friday's post.  If you're interested in winning a copy of Barry Lane's great CD, FORCE FIELD FOR GOOD, head on over to Friday's post and leave comment to be entered into Friday's drawing.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Goodbyes and Kindergarten Poems

Hope's Eighth Grade Graduation
Photo by Amy LV

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

Students - While summertime is full of sweet goodness, sometimes goodbyes are a little teary.  When the ends of school years come, I always find myself thinking about the good memories that threaded through the months, the memories that our children, all children, teachers, and I will hold onto forever.  So this poem is a bit of a list, a list of school memories to cherish.

In writing this poem, I decided to write from a teacher's perspective because I am a teacher and a grown-up, and I think that I understand what teachers feel.  Also, when I wrote these words, I wanted students to know that their teachers always remember them.  Some of my former students are almost thirty years old now, and I have not forgotten.  I remember their boxes full of collections, the novels they wrote in spiral notebooks, and the way they shared their favorite books.  I remember our giggles, our tough times, and the way we grew up together.  All teachers do.  See that repeating line?  I won't forget. Children matter greatly to their teachers.

For today's Poetry Peek, I am so happy to introduce kindergarten teacher Erin Jarnot and her students from Elma Primary School in the Iroquois Central School District as they celebrate poetry on this summer Friday. Welcome, Erin and young poets!

Kindergarten Poets: Krysia, Breanna, Grace, William, and Nick

Photo by Erin Jarnot

Teaching poetry to kindergarteners might seem like a challenge, but I was up for it!  With the right resources, tools, and great authors/poets to use as models (thank you Regie Routman and Amy VanDerwater), anything is possible!

Before beginning any formal writing of poetry, I exposed my students to TONS of poems – some that rhymed, some that didn’t, some that you could sing as songs, some that you couldn’t, some that were long, some that were short, some that had repeating lines, some that didn’t.  This was helpful when teaching how to write poetry because I could easily refer back to something we had previously read, and the kids would remember it.

Another step I took with my class before writing poetry was getting their brains “thinking like poets”.  I used many objects from nature (sticks, rocks, shells, leaves, tree bark, etc.) and did a lot of comparing with these objects.  I told my students that poets describe what things are like and we would use the nature objects to get our brains “thinking like poets”.  My favorite object was a plain old stick from a tree.  It was about 2 feet long, thin, smooth with a slight bend in it.  Some comparisons the students came up with were:

It’s a wizard wand.

It is smooth like a snake.

It is like a walking cane.

It is like a light saber for fighting.

It is a wand for a band conductor.

It is like your pointer for teaching.

Each object had its own set of comparisons.  I emphasized using the words “like” or “as” when the boys and girls were comparing different things.

Colors

by Nick

Squirrels

by Grace

Then came a few lessons right from Kids’ Poems – Teaching Kindergartners to Love Writing Poetry (Regie Routman).  

Available through Scholastic

The Getting Started and Sharing Kids’ Poems sections are must reads.  They are short and really inspiring.  If you have the mindset that a poem can be about anything at all, and that just about anything can be written as a poem, it will make teaching poetry a lot of fun!  I used the student samples right from this book to show my students.  They thought it was neat to see the unedited versions of student poems.  They could relate to them because the sample writing looked just like their own writing.  My students also loved hearing the names of the students who wrote each poem in the Regie Routman book.  They belonged to real kids, just like them.

We did a lot of modeled and shared writing before the students worked independently.  On those days, we’d write poems together.  Sometimes I’d write one of my own, sometimes I’d mimic a poem that was from the book.  I thought it was important for the students to know that sometimes poets think of a poem in their head and say what it would sound like out loud before going back to write it.  That seemed to help some of the students organize their thoughts a bit.

Milli

by Krysia

I gave the boys and girls a choice at this point.  They could try a poem if they thought they were ready, or they could do some familiar journal writing.  A few students tried the poems right away, and surprisingly, a few of them got the hang of it.  After about a week of modeled and shared writing of poems, I gave all students special “poetry paper” which was 8 ½ x 14 paper with writing lines on it (because you write a poem down the page instead of across the page) – this gave the students a different perspective since they usually write on 8 ½ x 11 pieces of paper.  Now it was time to get to work.

Summer

by Breanna

We worked for about two weeks or so just writing poems.  Each day for my mini lesson, I would add new things the kids could try in their poems (repeating line, topic ideas, more comparing strategies, punctuation, lack of punctuation, etc).  The boys and girls thought it was neat that when writing poetry they could kind of “break the rules”!  One girl even wrote her entire poem in capital letters just because she could – she didn’t have to follow a sentence structure format.

After many days of writing and writing, I collected all the poems and typed them up.  Students then illustrated pictures to match their poems.  I kept the student copies and bound a small poetry collection for each student including all of his or her poems.  I mimicked Regie Routman’s set up of the student poems in her book.  Overall, they turned out really well, and everyone was very proud of their work – me included!

Star Wars

by William

Thank you so much to Erin and her young poets for their generous sharing of both poems and process today.  I hope that they will continue to find and write poems all through the summer, perhaps taking some of that big long paper home with them!

Margaret is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Reflections on the Teche where you can find the poetic goodies for this week and learn about Margaret's students' writing marathon too.  Happy Poetry Friday!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

Love Letters and Chalk Poems

Writer Tree

by Amy LV

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

Students - Today's poem is about the season we are in right now.  Spring.  When this time of year rolls around in Western New York, we are always very ready for it; winter is long here.  And it always feels like there is one magical day when all of the trees mail their leaves to the sky.  I notice it every year, and every year I marvel.

Today's poem relies heavily on a technique you may have heard of -- personification.  In this verse, I make the trees like people, writing.  We know that trees do not write, but in this poem they do. In this poem, they are like people who feel hope and relief and even joy.

The first two stanzas each have an ABCBDB pattern (every other line has the same end rhyme), but the third stanza is shorter.  To me, this makes it feel more finished, breaking the pattern and all.

There's a bit of alliteration (same beginning letter repeating) too.  Can you find it?

It is an honor today to welcome kindergarten teacher Betsy Hubbard and her kindergarten poets from Fern Parsons Elementary School in Olivet, Michigan.  Many of you know Betsy from her warm, rich blog, Teaching Young Writers, and her students' families also know her through her classroom blog, Hubbard's Headlines.  Some of you might even remember when Betsy and her students visited The Poem Farm last June with their book, RHYME SCHOOL.  Today they share their chalk-a-bration poem, written at the end of April, National Poetry Month.  What a fantastic idea!  I welcome Betsy and her students....

Photo by Betsy Hubbard

Chalkery

It doesn't take long,

not hard to find a space.

Go get some chalk

and poetry the place!

~Betsy Hubbard

Back in March of 2012 my husband was outside with our children doing chalk on the driveway. He got the idea to write some song lyrics. This idea of writing words on our driveway spread. I started writing poems on our driveway, then my husband started writing poems too. 

I began thinking, what if others shared writing underfoot? What if someone, somewhere wrote their favorite poem or an original poem and someone else stumbled upon it? I felt a rush of excitement at the idea of someone’s day getting a smile from shared words. Chalk-A-Bration was born! 

Throughout last year, poets, students and my family shared poems and illustrations during the summer months. This year I decided to share the idea with my students again, and we got to work. We went outside with our writer’s notebooks and scoured for ideas. We illustrated our topics and lines as a planning tool and together wrote a shared poem. In partners, students illustrated each line of the poem in chalk outside. We put it all together and had our poem in pictures for everyone to see. It was a great way to celebrate the end of poetry month with kindergartners.  Here is our poem in pictures and in words:

Senses Outside

by Mrs. Hubbard’s Kindergarten Class

Smelling flowers that smell like lemonade

a red bike

a can

a spiky ball

green tree

green grass that grows

hearing owl -- whoo, whoo

a yellow dandelion

a stick shaped like a Y

and those were our senses outside.

About chalk-a-bration, Saige says, "I like doing it (chalk-a-bration) because it is so beautiful, and I like doing the poetry because I get to make my own stories and pictures." 

Sophia says, "I like poetry because its fun writing and drawing pictures to go with your writing." 

Reagan says, "I like to draw with chalk, it is fun to do things like this with my friends. I love all the colors of things."

Chalk-a-bration is on May 31st, and I am also hosting Poetry Friday that day at Teaching Young Writers! I would invite any and all chalk holders to join in the chalketry celebration. It can be an original poem, a personal favorite, or an illustration to a poem. Anything poemy will do.  When you're done getting dusty, post a photo on your blog and link it to teachingyoungwriters.blogspot.com on celebration day! You will be in good company. And, you can even come back on June 30th, July 31st or August 31st to do it again! 

Don't you just want to get out and chalk?  I do!  Remember....May 31 at Betsy's place. Thank you so much to Betsy and these young poets for filling The Poem Farm with joy today.

Today I am guest blogging over at Kirby Larson's blog, Kirby's Lane, a wee bit about writing and the two selves I must be to do so.

Ed DeCaria is hosting today's Poetry Friday party over at Think Kid, Think! Stop by and check out the menu of poetry fun all around the Kidlitosphere this week.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

Big Cat & Kindergarten RHYME SCHOOL

Oscar & Houdini (Both Need Homes!)

Photo by Hope LV

 

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

Students - Whenever these last days of school come around, I find myself thinking about changes.  How have my children grown and changed?  How have students I know grown and changed?  How have I grown and changed? Because we have kittens in the house right now, I am also watching them change day-by-day.  All of this rolled together into today's poem.

You will notice that "Big Cat" begins with the speaker comparing him/herself to a kitten.  I wanted to keep this same comparison through my whole poem, and you can see this in stanza two, especially in the verbs playing, pouncing, and pawing.  In the third stanza, the speaker is a grown up cat...a year has gone by.

It's neat to do this, keep one comparison throughout a poem.  Pay attention to your writing - if you discover that you have a strong metaphor in one line, ask yourself, "Hmmm....might I carry this through more than one stanza?"

Today I am thrilled to welcome kindergarten teacher Betsy Hubbard and her students from Fern Persons Elementary School in Olivet, Michigan, on one of their very last days of school.  It is a treat to host a writing party for them here at The Poem Farm!  

Teacher Betsy Hubbard

Photo by Shawn Hubbard

This school year has been a huge one in terms of my growth as a teacher. I have stepped out of many boxes this year and almost everything I did here with students was a first for me and a great experience.

My kindergarten students love reading and listening to poetry all year long. However, in April they enjoyed new adventures in poetry; writing their own! To find inspiration, the students first explored walking trails, creatures under logs and leaves, and a floral garden. With their writer's notebooks students made lists of observations, listened to quiet sounds and drew pictures of what they saw. Each student wrote poems about their outdoor adventures and drew matching illustrations with everything from watercolors to chalk.

Tyler and Lane Peek Under the Leaves
Photo by Betsy Hubbard

Zoe...
Photo by Betsy Hubbard

...Peter...
Photo by Betsy Hubbard

...and Kden Record Observations in Their Notebooks
Photo by Betsy Hubbard

We explored all kinds of poetry written by all kinds of poets, and we even listened to several poems from Amy here at the Poem Farm and peeked into other classroom poetry journeys.  From all this exposure, students began to learn about what makes poetry so interesting. VARIETY! Onomatopoeia, rhyme, and alliteration make poems appealing to the ear, while free verse can have a sound and meaning all its own. My kindergarten students learned from each other and shared their poetry with classmates, teachers, and third grade buddies who commented on their hard work.

Comment Compliments

Photo by Betsy Hubbard

Each student made a book of poems to treasure, and we taped comments to the back. This positive feedback was both a motivator and confidence builder. Students then had the task of choosing a favorite poem from their personal collection, and we created a classroom poetry anthology to collect all of their poetic memories!

I gave each of my students their personal copies of the anthology yesterday and told them they were each published authors. One young poet came up to me and said, "My mom is going to be so proud of me!"

I send many many thanks to teacher Betsy and all of her poet students for joining us today and for sharing their warm words and joy-filled illustrations. Congratulations, poets, on your class poetry anthology! I know that you will keep this book, Mrs. Hubbard, and each other in your hearts forever.
For more inspiration, you can follow Betsy Hubbard's blog at Teaching Young Writers.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!